At the end of the day

I felt chillness in wind
despite the warm sunlight
bestow, whatever under its glow;
the trees swish to wind
blew, the gloomy mood
while sky cleared the clouds
blue-sky isn’t a surprise.  

The sun’s ready to set
splashing its golden rays
to lavish, before it vanish;
the environment is greenish
thanks to eastern waves – MJO
for bringing faraway clouds
to help flourish our environs.

Rains took a break
or almost finished its course
though, the scores aren't fair
competing with other places;
it was refreshingly cool
and I could feel the cold in breeze
since winter isn't far.

RGB Monday

A colourful depiction of traditional south Indian wedding ceremony!

No, this is not from my grandmother’s Golu arrangement but this could take an easy place at any similar arrangement of dolls. This miniature of a marriage ceremony was found at a café’s showcase while stopped for a coffee break during a leisure ride on Kodaikanalghat road. The café bearing the board of popular Kumbakonam degree coffee is located half the way on Kodai road and the café displayed some more craftworks, which I’m unsure it’s for sales, and too sells some hygienic snacks. 

Btw. the weather was very pleasant today, and also become the wettest day of the year with continues drizzle from the dawn and occasional heavy rains temperature had pushed to the least to heaven like feel. Things look pretty refreshing around and trees gleam in greenish green and the rain drops had decorated the balcony rails as rows of LEDs, a feel that often missed lately is back with commence of northeast monsoon.

RGB Monday

Walk by colors!

A rain scene by street... where a young mom and daughter walk the street by holding colorful umbrellas during a rainy day.

Interesting skywatch

The weather has been different, pleasant and cool these days in Chennai with pretty sunny day times and gloomy evenings mostly end up with mild showering to thunderstorm. Sky watching has become interesting pastime these days from different cloud patterns emerging across the sky and built up of massive clouds make wonderful evening show on the west sky, which sometime glows to orange to pinkish. These days mostly, altocumulus sky pattern is visible through the day and many a days with such pattern brings showering in the evening. Fish scales or altocumulus, is   groups of puffy clouds traveling on a humid morning can mean afternoon thunderstorms. I really enjoy this pattern of weather or a mixed pattern of sunshine and rain or overcast sky by the end of evening, where either it rains or not it’s welcomed.

Last night and early morning there was widespread rain across Chennai or almost part of north Tamil Nadu, with Thiruvallur district (to north of Chennai)  received best of almost 140 mm of rain, which is unusual for this month. The rain in evening is quite a disturbance to commuters, who were returning from office, but everyone understands the urgency of rain and rain is must as all reservoirs around Chennai are dry. Here I share few sky shots captured from this month.

The balcony and a step outside home, from where I frequently skywatch… on the left corner in the image is the adopted dog Jack, sleeping from a mat.

Linking this post with Skywatch Friday and Good Fences by Gosia

Chameleon and Rain Tree

Perhaps it was afternoon when I casually came into the balcony; spot a chameleon taking nap on the branches of the Rain tree or Monkey pod (Albizia saman) grown opposite to our house on the roadside. The chameleon wasn’t taking nap quite but was on its usual slow pace push ups and I didn’t want to miss the chance, so quickly reached the camera and took few shots because the iPhone don’t zoom for that long.

Actually the Rain Tree was wrongly planted in our street or unaware of what tree was it when planted because there isn’t enough space for the widespread tree to grow in our street and the tree separated into two branches at few feet from the ground went growing wild in multiple directions to look distracting and blocking the wind. Though we managed to cut few branches of the tree sometime back it started too grown again to damage the look. Post winter the tree lost many of its thick pinnate leaves to leave ground yellow carpet but it hasn’t bloomed yet in white and pink.

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

Ganesh Chaturthi at Home and Neighborhood

Home Ganesh

One of the prominent Indian festivals, Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrated on Monday and we too had a piece of the event at home. Dad bought Ganesh clay idol from the temporary street shops selling the idols and other elements for the worship and by the end of the noon things came to conclude and we had lunch with dishes offered for the Ganesh. The day was celebrated in front of the television and by the evening the clay idol was left in a bucket of water – the usual way of dissolving the idol that we are following for more than a decade.

The clay idol left in a bucket of water to dissolve

The clay idols are designed to drop in rivers by the time where rivers are flooded following the rains, but the climate change or delay in rains had left rivers dry during this season forced people to look after lakes, ponds and sea. Many in the neighbourhood, including my cousin drove to the beach to drop their idols but we found this method (dissolve in bucket of water and use it later for trees/plants) comfort and eco-friendly. I always keep this upfront to encourage others to follow this easy and need of the hour… but we can’t force unless they wake up. In the evening there was a cart procession from the street end Ganesh temple but as soon they started the rain interrupt and delayed the procession and the time it come over our place I had dinner, so couldn’t take proper photos and the one at below comes from dad.

The cart procession shot from the balcony - actually there's two Ganesh Temples in our area and only one took to street on Ganesh Chaturthi (monday)  and the other temple cart is postponed to Sunday.

Monsoon Feel

Rain always brings cheers to mind unless it was a kind of downpour or flood like situation. Chennai kept receiving rain now and then in the evenings mostly make feel cheerful, refreshing and relieving from the midday hot weather. During my vacation I experience wonderful showering moments with distinct pattering though the woodhouse and trees and coffee plantations and on the hills the weather was much treating. I tried to capture rain through various possible ways I could and managed to click some pretty images exposed to fresh green foliage and flowers. I’m stuck by thought of what to post and the evening rain comes to rescue and yet enjoyable. Here I share an image that gives me monsoon feel!

Moment it Rain

My sky before it started to rain

First rain of the year
waked up the aroma of earth
from deep slumber, blanketed
in dust, drought and dryness.

A dramatic change in sky,
where scattered clouds gathered
filtered the radiating heats
to lesser, sprinkle as shower.

Not a kind of downpour
but it brings hope and cheers
to mind that so drought
and a kind of moody exists.

The senses woke up
as every drop knock the ground,
earth responded fragrant
as nostalgic rushes into vein.

The weather turns vital
since there isn’t a sign of rain
past failure of northeast monsoon
the rain becomes crucial
as there no prevention, care or cure
unless earth quenches thirst
to nurture its children.  

Linking this post with Skywatch Friday

End of Cool Breeze and Diverted Storm

The summer breeze has took backseat to zero ending up a weather that wasn’t complaint despite the bright sunlight, today turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far. There isn’t a motion of wind outside the house unlike few days ago where I enjoyed the cool breeze even at the midday to noon, things turned different overnight which perhaps due to the pulling up of wind by the cyclone formed far away from the bay. Body soaks in sweat unless sitting under the fan or blowing air con. The sky was mildly cloudy allowing light sunshine but muggy weather turned it worse with lack of blowing wind there’s unknown pressure in the atmosphere forcing us down. Being the last day of the month, April, it become an unfavourable despite being a month of nothing much to complaint comparing previous years (where the hot weather emerge even in March itself) at least coming to the part of my city at the state level.  

The weathermen read a report last week, sending pretty cool waves whispering happiness into the ears by forecasting a cyclone to form on the Indian Ocean and drives toward Chennai and its surrounding and I also mildly heard of red alert dispatched from weather dept. that we all looked forward keeping away the thoughts of destruction that a cyclone could create, it was the rainclouds that we desired to see showering, wetting and quenching thirst of our mother earth to nurture her children alike. But it was disappointing when cyclone took diversion from the path predicted, although from the experience in past the cyclone didn’t fascinate me as I too felt it was early to predict,  it was the rain we miss a lot since the failure of northeast monsoon that our water source is largely depend. All the reservoirs that supply water to the city (with more than 10 million people) has went drought and the only source remains now was the seawater desalination and bore wells. The weather is predicted to be terrific hot in coming days and weeks following the draw of moisture wind and land breeze to gain power. Stay safe Chennaities 

Saturday's Critters

A crow preening from a recent showering! The northeast monsoon this year haven’t covered even half the amount it should have (at least in Chennai and adjacent districts) and we’re barely left by a week of hope for the rains as the season ends, and although winter has widespread all over the state, the hope for rain has decline. Though the meteorological dept. has predicted that there could be a formation of low (in Bay of Bengal) in the coming week, its hope of rain is uncertain or should be insufficient.

Due to low pixel mode, I had to sacrifice on the quality of pictures which I only realized after uploading to laptop and I have took many photos without checking it as I keep it always on high mode, something went out of my concern.

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

Skywatch Friday: Stormy Sky

Shot outside the home. Before it started to rain heavily! Nov 20-21 had been really good day for us, with continues rain, which was the need of the hour, turned the environment to feel cool and was refreshing throughout the showering. Thanks to the depression in Bay of Bengal, we received 100-150mm of rain and so far we received less than 300mm of rain where the normality is 850mm.  So we still need more rain to raise our ground table and the water level at reservoirs. Hope more on the way before the monsoon ends.

Linking this post with Skywatch Friday

Gaja and the cottage at Kodiyakarai

The cyclone Gaja has smashed the coastal districts up to 6, and took very unusual routes into the land without losing its strength has stroke couple of mountainous districts causing heavy downpour and windstorms resulting in number of tree fall and landslides. Kodaikanal – my most visited place for vacation, where my uncle owns wood houses and cottage – being the core part of the cyclone, before it enters the Kerala state and Arabian Sea shook the mountains to unlink most of the roads and many remote villages are inaccessible still and out of electric. Even at the vicinity of my uncle’s woodhouse and plantation, many banana trees had fell and there’s no water or electric.

At the other hand I was wonder what could happened to the beautiful cottage we stayed in Kodiyakarai (PointCalimere) during our visit to the wildlife and bird sanctuary there, which was the eye of cyclone Gaja! It’s nearly a century old tiled roof cottage; adjoin the sanctuary and coastal line, built by Thambusamy Pillai, a sea merchant. There’s two suites named as Pelican and Flamingo, which is popular migratory birds of the sanctuary. I really loved this place, despite the frequent power cuts and mosquito bites; I could see deer and peacocks turn pleasant the moments anytime by their presence. Kodiyakarai and Vedaranyam in Nagai district is worst affected and almost cut off from the rest of the places, as it located on the eastern edge of the state.

The places that are affected by Gaja continues to fight against the debris the cyclone left back, after pulled down many houses and destruction of livelihoods. And to make situation worse, these places continue to receive heavy rains due to another depression at the sea and a warning of 300 mm of rain still. However it was raining from the morning here, more rains is expected in coming days. Hope it rains well, never a kind of flooding, to uplift the ground water and filling of lakes to support our city’s water scarcity. The pictures here are on the cottage we stayed at Kodiyakarai.

Rain Picked Up

It was raining from last evening in Chennai and the city was almost cool down, and looks alike everything goes favourable for the northeast monsoon to pick up tomorrow. At our previous house rain was the real threat for us, and it was almost a force forced us to move out and it was there while everyone enjoys showering our thoughts were that rain shouldn’t last longer. Now, looking out the balcony I feel how pleasant was the rain, though it isn’t a new feeling, it sense something missed out longer. The array of rain drops looks impressive, studded along the steel rails of balcony contrast to rich green backdrop with trees and palms of neighbours.

As you all know the reason why we shifted house (threaten to flood entering home in monsoon as it was positioned down) and get back to our own house, we never need to face it again but still a heavy rain could be a problem to anyone and other. The weather condition was really helpful and brings hope of rain, what Chennai-ties and others need, but with the most celebrated festival (Deepavali or Diwali) on Nov 6, the rain could be a challenge for people out at purchase and those looking forward to celebrate festival. Rain is enjoyable, and with an open sky out here along with pretty flourished trees it brings a sense of atmosphere where it is a pleasure to watch rain from a safe range.

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia 

Marayoor – Munnar Road Travel

During the recent torrential rains in Kerala, the tourist hub Munnar experience great destruction and all the roads leading to the destination was blocked by erosion of roads, landslides or overflowing rivers. Munnar derived its name from the meeting point of three rivers that almost flood the town and the road from Udumalpet through Marayoor (which I took during my trip) was the most affected and damaged. It was a pleasant uphill task for us through forest and tea plantations and this route have number of brooks, waterfalls and rivers (that you may have seen in my posts related to Munnar) could easily eradicate the road when the water level and pressure arises on river/streams. I tried to connect with photos I captured during my trip with the places that faced damage and the following photos were shot between Marayoor and Munnar. 

In 1924 a similar situation turned out at Munnar (including other parts of Kerala), eradicated the town and its tea plantations to core and only then the Mattupetty Dam and Munnar (Hydel) Dam was built to preserve flood and hydro power.  I come to know it even before the disaster struck 2 weeks ago.  Thanks to the documentary I watched on Munnar at the Tea Museum there and images of the havoc washing away the town and tea factories. Lot of lives have lost as well. The Udumalpet-Munnar was the first road to lay to Munnar and I come across many old bridges on this road which must be threatened by the gushing water. I recommend this route for anyone love nature and pleasant driving to Munnar, keeping away the bustle traffic and tensing depth and valleys and sharp bends. 

One of the old arch bridge that was damaged in flood

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Marayoor is also a lovely place to stay and enjoy nature and wildlife around the town. The weather was such blissful during my pass away of the town, even though the road beyond that was wrapped in mist, in a way blocking away many fabulous views I was expected to look out for, but for a person who love to lose in mysterious mist, it was enjoyable along with multiple falls enroute. Marayoor is popular for their distinctly tasted Jaggery made from the sugarcanes harvest here and the natural sandalwood reserve is splendour of Marayoor, where we stopped for few minutes to have our tea. I made a stop at Udumalpet for a night stay was mainly to experience this route as leisure as possible, admiring the wilder rich and pristine touch of nature as many don’t take this route or to say a road that less travelled. 

Sugarcane fields past Marayoor town

Driving through the natural sandalwood reserve

Venture through thick blanket of mist

Since mist, drizzle and wetness take over the atmosphere; it feels fresh despite the weather traveling through thick and lush green landscapes that goes from light to dark patches of greenery. The road quite lost in the mist at some places and there were very few cars on the road so it wasn’t a problem driving through Ghats and the nature was so wonderful and cheerful in crown of mist capping the mountains sending downstream to valley.  Everything is pristine on this stretch and pleasing to sight although not clearly, this time, my quench for nature is endless but I wish to take this road again (if possible) to see the magnificence I missed in the cover of mist.

Most of the photos here were shot with iphone 

Floral Garlands

During my travel to Munnar (in Nov 2017), we stayed at Udumalpet for a night before proceed toward the same, we waited around a junction in the morning, while my dad went to buy breakfast the flower shops around there caught my attention but it was the fragrance of  flowers dragged me toward its helm. The weather was drizzling then, and the morning wake up from fresh showering turned things refreshing around us and the sprinkled flowers and garlands reproduces an essence and sense that could still recollect. It was around 8 am and due to morning rain, not many shops were opened except the few flower shops hanged out with freshly tied garlands looking out for customers and the waiting time got me the chance of shooting these.  

Linking this post for Floral  Friday Foto  

Surprise Waterfall

I have been on the road to Poombarai few times and every time I come across this curve of the beautiful winding ghat (road) of Kodaikanal, and a rock face with a formation of cascading make wish to see waterfalls alike. Unusual we visit Kodaikanal during summer, which is quite a dry season here where even mountains aren’t exception and I ever seen water falling this way except for little springs here and there. The southwest monsoon begins only in the first week of June and in 2016 I visited Kodaikanal for second time in a year, in the month of July, which was the mid of monsoon so we caught between heavy showering as we proceed towards Poombarai, a beautiful mountain village about 20 km from Kodaikanal. 

Since raining I shot these photos through windshield while the wipers goes down

I have no words to describe how surprise it was for me to see water cascading through the rock face of the mountain. I know it’s the monsoon rain gave life to this cascading and ages of flow of water during rain has turned into a beautiful rock formation which made my day through the fall. The road to Poombarai and beyond is my favourite stretch of road winding through pine forest, forested valleys with spotted wildlife and unlike the Kodaikanal road, its hassle free and pristine nature to inspire to take it again and again. 

Herd of Sheep

Those who follow me know that I love taking road-less travelled and every time I plan a trip I try to explore some unusual places and routes and this way I took an unusual road to Kodaikanal last year, which took me through refreshing sights. By taking this road I have covered all the motored roads to Kodaikanal, even though it’s a link road it takes through some beautiful mountain villages, including Thandikudi, where my uncle built the woodhouse. The 40 km detour takes us through newly scenes and experience of traveling. It was showering and drizzling alternately as we travel through the countryside, we come across herds of sheep blocking the road for a distance we could see.

Although it took few minutes for the shepherds to clear the sheep, seeing such big herd is a wonderful scene and allowed me to take photos on the same. Since it was about 4 pm, looks like the sheep are driven back to their shelter following grazing through the day. There were more than 3 big herds of sheep following one behind another and for us it was a long journey from Chennai and as we move close to the mountains the weather turned gloomy and rainy which was the reason I couldn’t get more clear photos and the following ones are shot from inside the car.

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

Thoovanam Waterfalls

During my travel to Munnar, through Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, we got to see this awesome waterfall from the road we are traveling between Udumalpet and Marayoor and it was flowing gracefully down the valley covered in dense forest. Thoovanam, meaning drizzling sky, is one of the beautiful waterfalls I have seen and though it flows far from where we stood watching its majesty, we could hear the rushing water cascading from a height of 82 feet.

Thoovanam could not stop us from thinking about Athirapally, the largest waterfall in Kerala on the Chalakudy River, which we checked while staying from Valparai in 2008. Though Thoovanam isn’t big as Athirapally, the way it looks resembles. Actually we missed a stop earlier on road, where we would have got a whole view of the waterfalls, but I was truly content from the location we stopped to watch and take photos as it gave a bit near view.

Thoovanam waterfalls from on the Pambar River that run down along the valley between the hills and dense forest, and the highway between Udumalapet and Munnar travels along the river which supposed to be originated at Anaimudi, the tallest peak of  South India. The Chinnar wildlife sanctuary offers trekking to the waterfall and the forest guided trek takes about 2-3 hours to cover 4km of stretch through wild forest and hills.

The valley view where the Pambar river winding through thick forest after magnificently fall as Thoovanam

Apt. to the name of waterfalls (Thoovanam) the weather was drizzling sky as we passed the mountain Ghats. Though our entire trip to Munnar in November was drizzling, rainy and foggy for the most gave far refreshing sight of many waterfalls and cool weather along our travel, Thoovanam as it flows through a pristine cover of forest green is spectacular to be watched again and again.